Mumpower: Run for re-election a “necessity” because of City Council’s “continued irresponsibility”

Ending months of speculation as to whether he would attempt to stay on City Council, two-term Council member Carol Mumpower has announced he will run for re-election this year.

In an e-mail dispatch last night, Mumpower cited the “continued irresponsibility of Asheville’s liberal City Council” as the reason his run is a “necessity.”

“Mirroring the wasteful patterns of government found in Washington and Raleigh, our mayor and her five colleagues continue to grow government, indulge special interests, and invest precious tax dollars on nice over necessary,” Mumpower said in the e-mail.

He added: “Eight years is a long time to hold the line as a conservative watchdog. There is no question that the best personal course for my family would be to say thanks and wave goodbye. The behavior of the Council and city management is creating too many obstacles between my conscience and a comfortable exit.”

In the statement, the full text of which is below, Mumpower also pledges to neither accept donations nor spend money on his campaign.

— Jon Elliston, managing editor

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Mumpower – An irresponsible city council makes running a necessity.

Citing the “continued irresponsibility of Asheville’s liberal city council”, two-term city councilman Carl Mumpower has committed to running again in the fall. “Mirroring the wasteful patterns of government found in Washington and Raleigh, our Mayor and her five colleagues continue to grow government, indulge special interests, and invest precious tax dollars on nice over necessary,” said Mumpower.

“Eight years is a long time to hold the line as a conservative watchdog,” noted Mumpower. “There is no question that the best personal course for my family would be to say thanks and wave goodbye. The behavior of the Council and city management is creating too many obstacles between my conscience and a comfortable exit.”

“I am aware that several of my colleagues view themselves as conservative or moderate,” said Mumpower. “Unfortunately for them, politicians are defined by voting records over vanity. With rare exception, the Mayor and council’s votes place them to the far left in their spending habits, social policies, and political agendas. The lack of remote balance on the council, and a belief that diversity of thought really is important, leave me no wiggle room.”

Mumpower notes specific frustrations with his colleague’s stewardship. “This council is about to surrender Asheville’s one billion dollar water system to legislated banditry by our local legislators,” said Mumpower. “I consider this impending action nothing short of criminal misconduct toward the tax payers of Asheville.”

“This council, in conjunction with city and police administration, is continuing to dramatically fail in their commitment to eliminate open air drug markets in Asheville’s public housing and other vulnerable neighborhoods,” said Mumpower. “Our willingness to allow drug dealers and users to make Asheville a corrupted playground is a form of child abuse as far as I am concerned. Incremental progress that leaves our children at risk is not remotely good enough.”

“Then there is the Mayor’s fantasy boondoggle – a new performing arts facility on Depot Street that will kill a ball park, distract from that community’s real drug and social problems, and saddle the city with another financial burden in the middle of an economic meltdown,” said Mumpower. “This extravagance is mirrored in the pork handouts that the council is accepting with a callous indifference to the burden the misguided economic recovery package is laying on the next generation.”

Mumpower notes that the official sign up period for candidacy is in late summer, but that he wanted to make his intentions clear in view of the Council’s recent and on-going “mischief”. “The people of Asheville have had almost 8 years to watch my model of service as a maverick watchdog,” said Mumpower. “They can decide if my commitment to principles over power, care with other people’s money, and firm eye on Reality 101 is in the city’s best interests.”

With the latter in mind, Mumpower has offered that he does not intend to accept or spend any money in the fall campaign. “I will gratefully embrace the help of volunteers who can do what they will, but I don’t intend to invest other people’s money trying to buy my seat at the table,” said Mumpower. “I’ll continue to enthusiastically do what I do and embrace the outcome when the voters do what they do.”

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20 thoughts on “Mumpower: Run for re-election a “necessity” because of City Council’s “continued irresponsibility””

Carl has made repeated statements– most recently in interviewing applicants for the City School Board– that a prostitute stands “in front of Asheville Middle School” “every day.”

As a parent of two students at AMS, I have been at Asheville Middle School over the last six years on many occasions, at many times of the day and night, and I have NEVER seen a prostitute, or any unfortunate appearing soul who Carl might have mistaken for a prostitute, in front of Asheville Middle School, EVER.

This is not simply a matter of a difference of opinion, or policy. Carl Mumpower is dead wrong.

If Carl is aware that he is wrong, then he is lying. If he is not aware of this objective fact, then he is delusional. Either way, I am very thankful that my children are not subject to his influence in their school administration.

He uses this falsehood, and what little influence he has, to bully school teachers and administrators, which is itself wrong, and to stigmatize our school. He should be ashamed of himself, but he is c;early too self absorbed to be so. Someone needs to stand up to this bully.

Carl may be spending too much time looking for prostitutes in front of our Middle School

Nice use of the word “maverick” in describing yourself. Unfortunately, in using the word you’ve shown that there is nothing “mavericky” about you. You play on the most base of human emotions– fear, in hopes that people will not see the gimicky campaign you will undoubtably run. Illegal immigration and drug enforcement are not, and will never be the job of city council. Please leave that to the real cops.

I’m for Carl running for Mayor and a Council seat. We need a local man with good old conservative common sense. Carl is that man and it is vital that he remain in city government to cancel out the liberals there.

On prostitutes and AMS. I suspect Carl didn’t mean “every day” to restrict to daylight hours. I would imagine that most (street walking variety) prostitutes work at night. Is it really true that you have the place staked out 9:00pm – 1:00am every day?

Or maybe the prostitutes “stroll by” looking for fashion tips during the day and you can’t distinguish them from the way some of the students
dress?

On the other hand we have plenty of stupid “over charge” laws that increase penalties for drug or sex selling “near a school” even when it happens at 2:00 am — what sense does that make.

Last Tuesday, Carl asked each of two of the applicants for School Board about prostitution “in front of” Asheville Middle. Once he said “a prostitute every morning at 7:00” and the other asked about “every day a prostitute and a pimp.” He did not ask Ms Dalman about these problems, even though, or perhaps because, her two children have been at AMS for the last 4 years. The other two applicants have children in Elementary Schools and may have not had direct experience to contradict his falsehoods. In any event, it requires courage to stand up and contradict someone in a position of power to deny your appointment. None of the other members of City Council stood up to him on these slanders to our Middle School. I guess they are inured to his behavior.

Carl made it clear from his comments that his questions about prostitutes were meant as an indictment of school administrators who “allow the prostitution” to take place in front of the school, and do nothing to decry it. The School Resource Officer from the Asheville Police Department is by implication included in his indictment as well.

The Councilperson owes the students, families, teachers, and staff of Asheville Middle School an apology for his false statements about our school.

Carl is certainly entitled to have differences of opinions and policy positions. He is not entitled to his own set of facts, especially these that are patently untrue and unjustly stigmatize a terrific school.

“I’m for Carl running for Mayor and a Council seat. We need a local man with good old conservative common sense. Carl is that man and it is vital that he remain in city government to cancel out the liberals there.”

Would you call soliciting cocaine in a family neighborhood as our children sleep then recklessly driving away without paying “good old conservative common sense”. I don’t consider citizens who perform dangerous(to himself and everyone in the community) homemade drug stings(without even considering consulting the police first) as “stable individuals” let alone leaders of our community.

And open-air Asheville drug markets selling crack and meth are a GOOD thing? Man, those drugs really make Pisgah View and DeaverView a better place, Huh? What alternate universe are you people living in? I worked as a professional in substance addictions for several years. These drugs absolutely devastate addicts, their children and families and their communittees. These drugs KILL people. And these drugs would continue to even if they were perfectly legal.

Kudos to Carl for standing by common sense–which seems to be lacking in many of the earlier posters here. Carl Mumpower has great courage and Balls of Steel. He consistently stands by his principles in the face of ridicule by idiots and imbeciles (such as the smug, phony-enlightened posters here). How many of you leftist braniacs could do that? Damn few I’d bet. How many of you fundamentalist liberals would have the tenacity to be the lone liberal on a conservative city council? Most of you can’t even stand to be even around someone who doesn’t think like you. And you don’t have the class to treat someone with a different political view with basic respect. Talk about intolerance and bigotry!

In my experience, Carl has consistently treated his adversaries with more decency and respect that he has ever been treated by the liberal citizenry of Asheville. You people are such hypocrites. Whether you disagree with Carl or not, most of you are too small to fill his shoes. I know Carl and he is a kind and decent man. You ignorant posters are giving liberals a bad name, so shut up already!

Jose… You failed to address the situation of Mr.Mumpower taking the law into his own hands and endangering himself and the whole neighborhood that night. A man of his age and reputation shouldn’t be making mistakes that severe. I appreciate your conservative stance but that’s not the kind of character, I feel the community needs as it’s representative.